Container and double lock safety cap therefor



July 23, 1968 c. P. GRIMM 3,393,816

CONTAINER AND DOUBLELOCK SAFETY CAP THEREFOR Filed Feb. 6, 1967 INVENTOR CARL PETER GRIMM Mffiz ATTORNEY United States Patent Oflice 3,393,816 CONTAINER AND DOUBLE LOCK SAFETY CAP THEREFOR Carl Peter Grimm, Darien, Comp, assignor to Sterling Drug Inc., New York, N.Y., a corporation of Delaware Filed Feb. 6, 1967, Ser. No. 614,341 3 Claims. (Cl. 215-9) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A safety cap and bottle construction for preventing children from opening medicament containers. The bottle has an annular groove disposed between an upper inwardly directed, axially aligned guide recess and a lower outwardly extending circumferential abutment with the abutment having a reduced area in alignment with the guide recess. The cap has an interrupted, inwardly extending rim rotatably engaged with the groove and a rim portion movable upwardly along the guide recess to remove the cap. The cap has a thumbpiece which is rotatable to a position in alignment with the reduced area of the abutment whereupon pressure can be applied to the thumbpiece to remove the cap.

This invention relates to a new and improved safety closure cap which is adapted e.g., for medicament containers and the like, and the principal object of the invention resides in the provision of a construction preventing removal of the cap by children, and making the container substantially impossible to open unless a certain new and improved tab on the cap is in registration with a special indentation in the neck of the container.

In prior art safety caps of similar nature, it has been found that in some cases they can be removed even though the parts are not properly aligned for removal and even though very small children still may not be strong enough to remove such safety caps, nevertheless an older child may be able to do so.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will appear hereinafter.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a top plan view of a container to which the new cap is applied;

FIG. 2 is a view in front elevation thereof with the cap in section;

FIG. 3 is a bottom plan view of the cap;

FIG. 4 is a cross section on line 4-4 of FIG. 3;v

FIG. 5 is a top plan view of the bottle neck construction of FIG. 2. with the cap outlined and in section to show the cooperation therewith, and

FIG. 6 is a view in elevation of the bottle neck, part being in section.

As shown in the drawings, the new safety cap is applied to a bottle 10. Bottle 10 is provided with a diametrically reduced neck portion extending upwardly from the main body :portion of the bottle and it has a more or less usual mouth or rim 14.

The upper portion of the neck diminishes in diameter as shown in FIGS. 2 and 6 at 16, and this is for the purpose of facilitating the application of the closure cap 18 preferably made of a strong material which is not apt to break and is hard and bite resistant, but at the same time it does have a certain degree of flexibility as will be made more clear hereinafter.

At the base of the tapered portion 16 of the neck of the container there is an inwardly directed annular groove 20, this being shown in dotted lines in FIG. 1. This annular groove is continuous and below it there is an out- 3,393,816 Patented July 23, 1968 wardly extending annular abutment 22 which however is provided with a chordal flat area 24 and therefore it will be seen that the annular abutment 22 is not completely continuous.

The closure cap 18 is preferably made of a relatively high impact polyethylene or similar thermaplastic material. This cap includes a top closed area 26 and a depending annular skirt 28 which may be of any desired cross sectional shape but in any event it terminates at its lower margin in an inwardly directed rim 30 which preferably extends over a greater portion than one-half of the inside of the cap, see particularly FIG. 3, terminating at the areas 32 and thus leaving gaps 34 between these two areas. However this gap itself is not continuous because there is a rim tab portion 36 which is conveniently located approximately half way between the terminal portions 32, 32 of the rim 30 but may be on a level therewith as is perhaps best shown in FIG. 4. At the outside of the cap adjacent the tab portion 36 there is an outstanding front piece or tab 38.

In the tapering area of the bottle neck at 16 it is provided with an in-cut or molded indentation, recess, or guide means 40 arranged in an axial direction at the periphery thereof and extending from the groove 20 to the surface of the tapered portion of the bottle neck as for instance at 42, see FIG. 7, and it is located directly opposite or in alignment with the flat 24 as shown in FIGS. 5 and 6'.

The cap is easily snapped down on the tapered portion 16 of the neck of the bottle and the rim 30 comes to rest upon the abutment at 22 with the rim snapped into the groove 20. This is the condition shown in FIG. 5 where the rim 30' is shown in dotted lines, and the rim tab portion 36 in solid lines being located in alignment with the indentation 40 and the fingerpiece or tab at 38 is of course also located here.

With the parts in the position as shown in FIG. 5, it is only necessary to push upwardly on the fingerpiece 38 with the thumb for instance to cause the cap to bend enough at the gaps 34 to snap the interrupted rim 30 out of its groove 20 and thus to snap the cap off.

However, with the parts assembled as in FIG. 5, it is only necessary to rotate the cap so that the thumb tab 38 is at a point of misalignment with respect to the flat 24 and indentation 40, in which case the thumbpiece 38 is not in a position where it can be reached to be pressed upwardly, and even if it were, the inwardly directed tab portion 36 being now in the groove 20, is not releasable, and regardless of any reasonable force exerted on the thumbpiece in the upward direction, the cap cannot be distorted.

It will be appreciated that were the tab 34 not present, it would be possible to push upwards on the thumbpiece 38, even though it should not be in alignment with flat 24, by inserting a fingernail under it, and thus cause enough distortion for the plastic material of the cap to allow it to be snapped off of the neck of the bottle.

The effect of this construction is that it is very nearly impossible to remove the cap from the bottle in the event that the tab at 36 is in any position except in alignment with the recess or guide means 40, but with the thumbpiece 38 in such alignment and the tab 36 underlying the lower end of the recess 40, it is only necessary to exert a small amount of pressure in an upward manner in order to snap off the cap. With the high impact plastic referred to above or some similar material, it is almost impossible to remove the cap except under conditions stated, but even though the cap should be taken off and replaced many times, the high impact material does not become permanently distorted even under constant use.

Having thus described my invention and the advan- 3 tages thereof, I do not wish to be limited to the details herein disclosed, otherwise than as set forth in the claims, but what I claim is:

1. The combination of a bottle having a neck, a rim on the neck defining a mouth, a circumferential groove in the neck spaced inwardly from the mouth, an outwardly extending generally circumferential abutment on the neck of the container adjacent the groove, a reduced area in said abutment, and a guide means in the neck of the container of the bottle in general alignment with said reduced area and at the opposite side of the groove therefrom, said guide means in general extending longitudinally with respect to the general axis of the neck of the bottle,

with a snap-on closure cap, said cap having a solid top and a depending skirt and an inwardly directed rim at terminal portion of said skirt, said rim being spaced from the solid top of the cap, and a portion of the cap at the exterior thereof extending outwardly therefrom forming a thumbpiece, said inwardly directed rib being interrupted, a portion of said rim cooperating with said guide means and being located adjacent said thumbpiece and being of a size to pass along the guide means, said cap being rotatable on said neck to position substantially all of the interrupted rim in said groove with said portion in misalignment with respect to said guide means, whereby pressure on said thumbpiece is of substantially no elfeet, the rim portion being substantially locked in the groove, said thumbpiece being capable of causing the cap to be removed from the neck of the bottle by pressure applied thereto in a direction causing said rim portion to enter and pass along said guide means only when the rim portion is in alignment with the guide means. 2. The combination of claim 1 wherein the guide means is a recess and the rim portion is a tab.

3. The combination of claim 1 wherein the guide means is an inwardly directed recess.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,147,873 9/1964 Mumford 2l59 3,170,585 2/1965 ODonnell 2l5-9 DONALD F. NORTON, Primary Examiner.

UNITED STATES PATENT on CERTIFICATE OF CORRE Patent No. 3,393,816

ICE

CTION July 23, 1968 Carl Peter Grimm Column 2, line 31, "rim snapped" should read rim 30 snapped line 50, "in the upward direction" should read in an upward direction Signed and sealed this 6th day of January 1970.

(SEAL) Attest:

Edward M. Fletcher, Jr. v WILLIAM E. SCHUYLER, Attesting Officer Commissioner of Patents 

